This article reviews the role of reforms in student loans policies in contributing to the expansion of higher education in Korea from a historical perspective. Since the end of the Korean War in 1950, the development of Korea’s loan system has occurred at a dramatic pace concurrent with the rapid expansion of Korean higher education. The major features of the reforms are as follows: (1) 1950s to early 1980s: Interest-free student loans; (2) 1985–2005: Subsidized interest rates loans scheme; (3) 2005–present: Student loans-backed securities scheme (SLBS); and (4) 2010: Income contingent loans as a supplement to SLBS. The driving forces behind these reforms were social pressures to increase affordability of higher education for all, and the need to secure a sustainable funding mechanism corresponding to the increase in student loans. (The rest omitted)